With the proliferation of subscription television programming, the drastic increase in the number of available channels and subsequent increase in television programming has heightened the need for an effective onscreen programming directory. Early attempts at a solution dedicated a channel to providing an onscreen directory, with programming information for each channel scrolling vertically across the screen. However, with the large number of channels, this technique proved inefficient because the viewer was required to spend an exorbitant amount of time waiting for the desired information to appear on the screen, while missing programming being shown on the other channels.
An EPG is used with television systems to allow users to examine scheduling information describing television programming to be broadcast in the future. In direct broadcast satellite (DBS) systems, EPG information is periodically downloaded and updated, usually at regular intervals. In the prior art, it was possible to examine scheduling information but the user was forced to scroll sequentially through listings corresponding to one-half hour increments. In order to examine scheduling information several days in advance, considerable time was required to scroll through the EPG to the desired timeslot. Storing the EPG in memory and performing periodic updates also proved inconvenient, as EPG information that may be available in the data stream may nonetheless be unavailable to users until the DBS receiver performs an update of the EPG information stored in memory.
There is a strong need for a user interface that provides a user with direct access to individual timeslots in the EPG, and enables the user to obtain the most current EPG information available.